In late May 2025, two prominent activists — Boniface Mwangi from Kenya and Agather Atuhaire from Uganda — made shocking revelations. They detailed how they were tortured and sexually assaulted while in Tanzanian custody.
The two had travelled to Dar es Salaam to show solidarity with Tundu Lissu, Tanzania’s main opposition leader, who was facing treason charges — charges he has consistently dismissed as politically motivated.
Their harrowing testimonies — of faceless agents, blindfolded interrogations, and inhumane acts — sent ripples across East Africa. For those who know Mwangi and Atuhaire, their accounts are credible.
I do. I have followed Boniface for over a decade on Twitter (now X), from his early environmental activism to his fearless political advocacy. And I’ve worked closely with Agather in the media — a blunt, principled journalist whose integrity is beyond reproach.
So, when they spoke, I listened. I believed them. I even shared their recorded interviews on my TikTok page — but I did not anticipate how prophetic their ordeal would soon appear.
Following the October 29, 2025 general election, Tanzania — long seen as East Africa’s calm, law-abiding sibling — descended into unprecedented chaos. Protests erupted after President Samia Suluhu Hassan was declared the winner in what the opposition and independent observers described as a deeply flawed election.
For decades, Tanzania’s image was one of discipline and quiet stability. Yet, as reports emerged of mass protests in Arusha, Mbeya, Songwe, and Dar es Salaam, it became clear that the country’s famed restraint had snapped.
The government’s response was swift and brutal. Security forces, backed by the army, moved to “restore order.” What followed has been described by regional analysts as the bloodiest political crackdown in Tanzanian history.
With the internet shut down and foreign media expelled, videos smuggled out tell a chilling story — thousands arrested, entire neighborhoods sealed off, and the death toll now reportedly exceeding 1,000.
The horrors narrated by Mwangi and Atuhaire echoed eerily with stories from the past. In a 1978 interview on Bukedde TV, the late Maj. Gen. Kasirye Ggwanga recounted his imprisonment in Tanzania during the Uganda–Tanzania war. Even as a battle-hardened soldier, Ggwanga broke down recalling the torture he endured in Tanga. Decades later, it seems little has changed behind those walls.
And then came a familiar scene. On November 4, 2025, President Samia Suluhu was sworn in at a military barracks in Dodoma, away from the public eye — a move reminiscent of Kenya’s 2007 post-election crisis, when Mwai Kibaki took his oath of office under similar circumstances.
Uganda’s Vice President, Maj. (Rtd) Jessica Alupo, attended the Dodoma ceremony on behalf of President Yoweri Museveni.
Veteran journalist Charles Onyango-Obbo aptly wrote that “Tanzania has lost its innocence.” The phrase captures the grief of a people betrayed by the very institutions they trusted.
Tanzania, once a model of African civility and unity, now finds itself in the throes of authoritarian relapse — its citizens silenced, its opposition hunted, its democracy in retreat.
President Suluhu has since ordered government agencies to “ensure life returns to normal.” But normal is an illusion when streets still run red and the echoes of gunfire linger in the air.
For neighboring Uganda — where elections are set for January 15, 2026 — the Tanzanian crisis is more than a distant tragedy.
It is a mirror and a warning. President Yoweri Museveni, who congratulated Suluhu four days after her controversial swearing-in, faces growing opposition from Dr. Kizza Besigye and Robert Kyagulanyi (Bobi Wine).
The lessons from Dar es Salaam are being closely watched in Kampala. The region’s strongmen often learn from each other — and so do their security forces.
As Ugandans brace for another election season, many fear a repeat of the same tactics: intimidation, arrests, and violence masked as “maintaining peace.”
From Kenya’s post-election chaos of 2007 to Tanzania’s bloodshed in 2025, and Uganda’s looming uncertainty in 2026, a dark pattern is emerging in East Africa — one of shrinking democratic space and growing impunity.
Tanzania’s wounds are deep, and healing will take more than official statements. It will require truth, justice, and accountability — things that cannot exist under fear.
Until then, the words “Tanzania is bleeding” remain not just a metaphor, but a haunting reality.
